Museum offers only darkness to visitors

LAHORE The Lahore Museum, which was stated to be worlds No 1 regarding collection of Sikh era coins, on Wednesday had no fuel for generator to provide sufficient light for the visitors on the International Museum Day. Impeccable sources informed TheNation on Wednesday that the Lahore Museum was facing difficulties for providing facilities to the visitors due to lack of funds. He said they had to face many problems amid load-shedding of electricity. We have to be more alert in darkness as in such situation we have fear of theft, he said and added that they had no funds to provide even cold water to the visitors. On the other side, the museums around the globe have announced free entry for visitors to mark the day but the Lahore Museum did not display even a banner to educate the masses about the day. The sources further said that the museum was also facing difficulties in protecting its precious collections due to dilapidated condition of the Mughal-era building. The museums building is unable to bear weather intensity because its wooden roofs have lost their grips due to which one of the galleries of the museum has been closed, they observed. A lot of collections including paintings dating back to the Mughal, Sikh and British eras, a collection of musical instruments, ancient jewellery, textiles, pottery and armory had been stored because they did not have sufficient place for their display, it was said. Taking to this scribe, the additional director of the museum, Noshaba Anjum, said they had no funds to celebrate and hold a ceremony to mark the International Museum Day. However, she said that they called the media to create awareness among the masses about the importance of the museum. She further said the Lahore Museum is internationally rated at No 10 but it is at No 1 regarding collection of Sikh era coins. She said unfortunately our people did not know the importance of museum in Pakistan but the museum was the only place to preserve the cultural heritage of any society. The Lahore Museum contains some fine specimens of Mughal and Sikh door-ways and wood-work and contains a large collection of paintings of the Mughal, Sikh and British eras, she added. She said the day titled Museum and Memory was being observed this year across the world. We can teach our youth about our past through collection of the museum, she added. Museums store memory and tell stories. They have numerous objects in their collections which are basis of the memory of the communities we live in. These objects are the expressions of our natural and cultural heritage. Many of them are fragile, some endangered and they need special care and conservation. She concluded.